By this time next year, Joe Mesi could be angling for a shot at one of the heavyweight title belts issued by the various organizations that have fractured the sport of boxing.
He could be learning his way around Albany during his first term as a state senator.
Maybe he'll be doing both.
Or neither.
The news that Mesi is considering a run for the state Senate seat vacated by Republican Mary Lou Rath, who is retiring at the end of the year, coincides with the announcement of the biggest fight of his boxing comeback.
On Feb. 14, Bob McCarthy of the Buffalo News reported that Mesi is being urged by to run in the 61st District, which includes his hometown of Tonawanda, as a Democrat by Steve Pigeon, the party's former chairman in Erie County.
On Sunday, the unbeaten heavyweight's father and co-manager, Jack Mesi, told the Niagara Falls Reporter that he's being courted from the other side of the aisle, as well.
"We've had the heavyweights of the Republican Party coming around, too," Jack Mesi said.
Joe Mesi has repeatedly expressed an interest in running for office at some point and has campaigned for local candidates including Gary Parenti, another Pigeon protege who unsuccessfully challenged Assemblywoman Francine Del Monte for the Democratic line in 2006.
The 61st District encompasses northern Erie County and all of Genesee County and skews Republican, but not by an overwhelming margin.
While some have interpreted Mesi's political interest as an indication that his boxing career, which was interrupted by a two-year medical suspension due to brain bleeds suffered during his decision win over Vassiliy Jirov in 2004, might be on the wane.
Since returning in early 2006, Mesi's attempt to regain the lofty position in the world rankings he held before the injury has been hampered by not being licensed to fight in big boxing states like Nevada, New Jersey and his home state, where his marketability soared before the layoff. Back problems have also plagued Mesi during his comeback, forcing the cancellation of at least two planned fights.
But just before his political dalliance became public, ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael said that a verbal agreement had been made to pair Mesi with rugged veteran Terry Smith in a fight to be telecast on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" in April.
On Sunday, Jack Mesi told the Reporter that promoter Jimmy Burchfield said the fight is "signed, sealed and delivered" to be the main event on April 4. The bout, scheduled to take place at the Twin River Event Center in Lincoln, R.I., would rate as the toughest test of Mesi's return.
Beyond that, Smith is arguably the fourth-best opponent Mesi has faced at any point in his professional career, behind Jirov, Monte Barrett and DaVarryl Williamson. Mesi got off the canvas to win decisions over Barrett and Jirov and demolished Williamson in less than two minutes. All three fights were shown on HBO.
After an impressive win over former cruiserweight titlist Kelvin Davis on "Friday Night Fights" last May, Smith dropped a 10-round nod to Rob Calloway three months later. Then, in what was supposed to be a bounce-back fight, Smith was upset by lightly regarded Robert Hawkins in a six-round decision in September.
The other two losses on Smith's 30-4-1 record, which includes 18 knockout wins, came against Jameel McCline in 2006 and then-undefeated Calvin Brock in 2004. Both have challenged for versions of the heavyweight title, with McCline dropping and nearly stopping Samuel Peter last October before fading and losing a 12-round decision.
While the losses to Calloway and Hawkins hint that Smith may be on the downside, he has made frequent appearances on the weekly ESPN2 series, displaying a powerful right and a solid jaw, having never been stopped as a pro. The Little Rock, Ark., native is 36, but did not turn pro until 2001.
Fighting Smith would be a true test for Mesi, who is 36-0 with 29 knockouts. A loss should force him to think seriously about retirement, whether he goes into politics or not, while a win would greatly increase his attractiveness to Top-10 contenders, as well as bolster his argument that he's fit to be licensed everywhere, including New York.
That brings up yet another twist to the Mesi story, his pending lawsuit against New York state. The fighter alleges that his federal privacy rights were violated when medical records showing the brain bleeds suffered against Jirov were made public, triggering an automatic suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which was honored by every state body.
After a Nevada judge ruled that the ban was not indefinite, Mesi was allowed to re-apply in individual states. To date, his comeback has included fights in Arkansas, West Virginia and Rhode Island, as well as in Puerto Rico, Quebec and under the sanction of a Native American boxing commission in Michigan.
Mesi has said his fistic and electoral aspirations are not dependent on or exclusive of each other, an opinion shared by his father.
"There are politicians who are also lawyers and business people," Jack Mesi said. "Why can't a politician also be a boxer?"
A night after Mesi's scheduled bout with Smith in Rhode Island, Steve Molitor (26-0, 10 KOs) is slated to return for another "Rumble at Rama."
Molitor, who has defended his International Boxing Federation 122-pound world title belt three times before sell-out crowds at Casino Rama, located about an hour north of Toronto, hopes to make it four in a mandatory defense against Fernando Beltran Jr. of Mexico.
Beltran (30-2-1, 18 KOs) earned the shot by stopping Jose Arboleda in 10 rounds in December. Molitor's most recent defense came in January, when he overcame an early cut to take a hard-fought, but clear-cut 12-round decision over Ricardo Castillo.
Another successful defense would keep Molitor in the mix for a lucrative unification fight against one of the other junior featherweight belt-holders. After the win over Castillo, Molitor's promoter, Allan Tremblay, said he had already talked with the management of World Boxing Association titlist Celestino Caballero and World Boxing Organization champ Daniel Ponce de Leon, the division's heaviest puncher, about potential fights later this year.
Two other future potential foes for Molitor meet on March 1 in one of the most anticipated bouts in the history of the 122-pound class. Israel Vazquez is set to defend the World Boxing Council's 122-pound belt, as well as the increasingly coveted bauble issued by The Ring magazine, against Rafael Marquez in Carson, Calif. It will be the third meeting between the two Mexican stars, with each scoring a similarly brutal stoppage victory.
Saturday night's rematch between middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor, the two-time conqueror of Bernard Hopkins, did not deliver the spectacular back-and-forth pyrotechnics of their fight in September, or the decisiveness of Pavlik's seventh-round knockout win the first time around.
That's not to say their second fight was a disappointment, even if there was no championship at stake in an over-the-weight match carrying a pay-per-view price tag, rather than being shown on standard HBO.
Pavlik answered any doubts that his first win may have been a fluke, repeatedly forcing Taylor to retreat in the face of his thudding left jab. Forced to go past nine rounds for the first time in his 33-fight pro career, Pavlik got stronger down the stretch, clinching a unanimous decision by sweeping the final three frames despite injuring his right hand in the seventh. He also absorbed some brutal combinations from Taylor and, unlike their first meeting, never went down.
For his part, Taylor paced himself much better, boxed well and blocked most of Pavlik's best shots. Most of all, he vanquished any notion that the first fight had devastated his psyche, keeping the fight going even until the final few rounds.
Niagara Falls native Dave Moretti gave Pavlik the biggest edge of any judge, scoring it 117-111, while his colleagues had it 116-112 and 115-113.
Taylor has grown out of the 160-pound middleweight class and, while Pavlik is finalizing details for a title defense sometime this spring, is likely headed up in weight, as well. That probably means Pavlik-Taylor III can't be too far behind.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Feb. 19 2008 |